VFW, American Legion hold on waiting for younger vets to join

The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars membership is getting older and dying at fast pace. Without an influx of young veterans from the nation’s recent and current wars, the organizations face a daunting task. Some posts are going young and reporting solid growth. Others are holding on, while a few are doomed to extinction. (Jim Pruitt/For the Daily Tribune)

Rumors of the demise of veterans’ organizations may not be exaggerated, but without an influx of new members, many posts will continue to close.

Nationally, membership is still in the millions, but with World War II, Korea and Vietnam War veterans dying every day, the organizations are facing a fiscal cliff of their own.

Advertisement

With an average 10- to 15-year gap between a veteran’s time getting out of the military and joining a service group, the two leading organizations, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, are battling to hang on until reinforcements arrive.

The VFW goes back to the Spanish-American War of 1898, when local groups formed to help veterans of that war, especially the wounded and the sick, get help. The organization grew to national status and by 1936 had 200,000 members. Now the VFW works to ensure benefits for veterans through the legislative process and takes credit for its role in getting Congress to pass the GI Bill of the 21st Century in 2008.

The American Legion has nearly 14,000 posts worldwide. It donates hundreds of thousands of hours and dollars to help veterans and communities.

But, the membership numbers are decreasing.

Nationally, the VFW is reporting a decline in overall membership, but states the younger veterans are indeed signing on. The organization’s figures show it is capturing 15 percent of all eligible veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.

“Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters make up about 10 percent of our overall membership,” stated Randi K. Law, VFW manager for communications and public affairs. “Percentage-wise, this is a larger market share than any previous war.”

Attracting new members means educating veterans and service members about the VFW’s programs, services and advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill, Law said. It remains their best recruiting tool.

“VFW service officers helped veterans receive over $2 billion in VA benefits last year alone,” Law said. “We’ve provided over $2 million in emergency financial grants to struggling military families. Now, with sequestration looming, we’re asking even more veterans to unite with us, making the VFW’s voice on Capitol Hill even louder in an effort to protect against budgetary cuts to VA and DOD (Department of Defense) that will negatively affect veterans.”

The American Legion is seeing a downward trend in membership. The group had about 100,000 members in Michigan in the 1990s, but that number has fallen to 70,000 in 2012, said American Legion state press officer Mark Sutton.

That drop is a combination of the older veterans dying off and fewer younger veterans replenishing the ranks.

“There is no way to keep up with the demographics,” Sutton said “There are more older veterans than younger veterans.”

Efforts are under way to retain membership numbers. As of Dec. 17, the statewide effort was at 78 percent, up from 65 percent at this time last year. The membership drive ends May 31, 2013.

“Last year, we missed our target by 2 percent,” Sutton said. “We are keeping the line with memberships.

“We are doing OK, nothing great.”

Many posts are in decline because they won’t adapt their approach and reach out to the younger veterans.

“They don’t want to learn about the younger veterans,” Sutton said.

There are two bright spots: Grand Rapids and Ypsilanti.

In the former, it’s because younger veterans have risen and taken over the leadership reins. In Ypsilanti, Sutton said a new building has been attracting new members. That bucks the trend most of the state is experiencing.

The American Legion offers membership to all service personnel who served during a time of war or conflict. The includes both World War I and World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon/Grenada, Panama and all conflicts since Aug. 2, 1990, when Operation Desert Shield began.

The VFW limits participation to those who served in areas of foreign conflict and have a battle ribbon.

Some recent attempts to reach the younger veterans include starting a post on a college campus.

The hope here is to help veterans on campus have a better start through the services provided by the post, Sutton said.

Michigan doesn’t have a campus post yet, mostly due to a lack of workers.

“It’s not going to work without the right people,” Sutton said. “That means members on the local level.”

Nearly half of the members of the Michigan American Legion are from the Vietnam era, Sutton said. With the Vietnam-era membership ranging in age from 55 into their 80s, time is running out. That makes it imperative the older members adapt to a new world.

For starters, that means not promoting the post as a place with a bar or a lounge, Sutton said. Some posts will call Sutton and complain of not being able to attract younger members. When he asks them what they do, it’s generally an offer of a free year of membership and half off their beer tab, he said.

“I say they lost them when they offered the free membership and the half-off beers,” Sutton said. “They don’t want that.”

What younger veterans want is help with getting services and benefits from the Veterans Administration and assistance filling out the forms.

“They want to know your post gave out $40,000 in scholarships last year,” he said.

What posts can promote is that through the efforts of the American Legion, nearly $500 million in economic stimulus was brought into Michigan in the form of compensation and pension benefits.

Another way all veterans groups are reaching out is through the Michigan Vet Success Program, where service officers visit college campuses to help veterans get benefits beyond the GI Bill, he said.

“Colleges are only concerned about the education benefits of the GI Bill,” Sutton said. “We go to help veterans qualify for other veteran benefits.”

Reports from the field are mixed. Some posts are experiencing good times, while others are holding water and the rest see the downward trend as a slide into oblivion.

Tim Driscoll, commander of the American Legion Post in Saline, said attracting younger veterans is proving to be a tough fight. They are a desired demographic because Driscoll’s generation of the Vietnam War era is reaching the end of their active life.

“We want to hand over the keys and the checkbook to them someday,” he said.

Driscoll understands the struggle for the young veteran getting back into civilian life. It’s an issue he dealt with when he and his friends returned from Vietnam. He is a member of the Vietnam Veterans Association, a group that didn’t form until 10 to 15 years after the war. The VVA then began to become members of the VFW and American Legion and take leadership roles in the local posts.

“The new guys are harder to reach,” Driscoll said. “They have to get their lives together. They have to find someone they can have relationship with, get a job and start a career.”

Another challenge is that many married veterans re-enlist because they can’t find a job outside of the military. Those types aren’t hanging out at the VFW or Legion, he said.

“It’s a whole different mindset,” Driscoll said.

Driscoll said the national organization is doing well now, but he estimates the Vietnam generation has only about 15 more good years before its members begin timing out of active roles.

The effects of time are showing up at meetings where only 10 to 12 people show up, Driscoll said.

“Some clubs have sold their buildings,” he said, citing low membership.

The American Legion’s saving grace is that is has organizations such as the auxiliaries and Sons of the Legion. Those groups give family members an avenue to participate.

In Northville, VFW Post 412 is reaching out to younger veterans to help them process claims and information when they return from the war, post spokesman Tom Brisbin said. Members are bringing into the fold men and women returning for Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

“We are trying to get a younger group in,” Brisbin said. “We have lost many members as those from World War II are dying off.”

So far, the response has been mixed.

The common theme among young people has been their desire to go back to school, start a career and a family, and that’s the same now as when today’s older veterans came home. Unless they have been wounded and are at a hospital and meet with VFW, they aren’t likely to join quickly, Brisbin said.

“For younger veterans finding work, joining a social club is not high on their agenda,” he said.

Brisbin said his post has connections in the private sector that alerts them when veterans get hired. The post reaches out to those veterans to invite them to join. But garnering interest is a challenge because returning veterans want to first get acclimated to civilian life and the only topics they are interested in from the post are education benefits and other opportunities.

For now, the post has 288 members with another 200 involved in its auxiliaries, Brisbin said. The post is forming a men’s group and hopes to add another 50 to 60 members, he said. The post is willing to put in the time and resources to assist veterans, he said.

Even though the post is experiencing losses due the deaths of senior members, Brisbin is not alarmed.

“It’s a cyclical thing. You just have to work through it,” he said

At the Lake Orion American Legion, Sr. Cmdr. Steve Hauxwell said his membership is getting older. The post is down to its last three World War II veterans, he said.

“We lost 12 last year due to death,” Hauxwell said. “At 65, I am one of the youngest veterans.”

Hauxwell said his club is having a difficult time reaching out based on a lack of active members. The post has 176 members, down from 312 a decade ago, he said.

“We try, but it’s just tough out there, really tough.”

But the news can’t get any bleaker than at the American Legion post in Eastpointe. Its time appears to be near the end as its aging membership has resigned itself to a dire fate, Andy Tomlin said.

“I am the youngest member at 82,” he said. “The post has only 50 members and few come to the meetings anymore.

“I don’t know how long we are going to last.”

At the Donovan VFW Post in Dearborn Heights, past Cmdr. Tom Rossi said the membership roster has been dismal.

“In the past, veterans would come back from the war and want to hang around with each other for solidarity and friendship,” he said. “Now things are different.”

Today membership is fading away and the new generation doesn’t share the old attitude. Throw in a bad economy, and paying dues is another burden veterans can do without.

Rossi’s post has lost 120 members in the past seven years and membership stands now at 325.

“It has been tough,” he said. “The younger veterans don’t have the same time as the older veterans did.

“The old gang wanted to mingle.”

The mood is brighter at the Royal Oak VFW post. There, Cmdr. Brandon Payne reports a rise in membership as veterans from Bosnia/Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan are joining.

His club boasts about 430 members. The key with attracting veterans from recent conflicts is to go out and talk to them, Payne said. Once they get to know the post, they are inclined to see the benefits of membership.

“The younger members are stepping up,” he said.

That approached worked for Payne, who served eight years in the U.S. Marines, retiring as a sergeant. He came back to the area and was on active duty at Selfridge. There were many post members who lived in the area and, as he became acquainted with them, they told him about the VFW.

Younger recruits, however, have different tastes. Payne said the Royal Oak post uses its downtown location as a drawing card as it provides free parking for members who like to enjoy the nearby entertainment venues.

Some members still hold onto the image that the VFW post is place for older veterans to hang out, but Payne tells younger veterans that membership helps maintain and expand services.

“Our national commander-in-chief talks to the (VFW) president two times a year and he can tell the president, ‘I represent these members,” Payne said about the clout the VFW has and wants to maintain and what he tells recruits.

Payne said getting the word out is vital to his group’s sustainability.